Fatal Flaw
by VoicesOffCamera
Summary: As the battle had raged on and on, he had put everything in himself into the fight and he felt very much like he had nothing left as people around him were dying despite all their efforts. But it simply wasn't in his nature to give up. However, that moment of hesitation and doubt would cost him.


**Fatal Flaw**

They were still alive.

That fact alone was extraordinary. A few hours ago routine reconnaissance mission had turned into a blood bath. Back up had been called when a team of two Order members had been ambushed by more than a dozen Death Eaters, which was how Sirius Black and James Potter had ended up on the scene along with any other Order members who had been occupying that particular safe house at the time. But even with the reinforcements, the Order was still woefully outnumbered.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Sirius dove to one side, the green jet of light burning just passed him, singeing the edges of his robes before hitting a wall behind him and causing it to explode, rubble raining down on him. Everything in him wanted to lay down and give up. As the battle had raged on and on, he had put everything in himself into the fight and he felt very much like he had nothing left as people around him were dying despite all their efforts. But it simply wasn't in his nature to give up. However, that moment of hesitation and doubt would cost him. He barely had time to scramble to his feet before his sadistic cousin launched another curse at him.

"Sirius, look out!"

Suddenly Sirius was being shoved to one side, sending him stumbling. He wasn't aware that it was James who had pushed him out of harm's way until he heard his best friend's scream of agony as the curse hit him instead.

"No!" Sirius bellowed as he whipped around, sending a wave of pure magical energy from his wand, his mind racing too much to grasp at any curse in particular. To his satisfaction, though Bellatrix tried to dodge out of the way she was a bit too slow, his attack catching her in the shoulder and sending her sprawling with a scream of pain as pure energy burned through her robes.

"Retreat!" someone screamed. "Order, retreat!"

There were cracks around him as those of his allies that were still alive Apparated in retreat. Sirius' eyes fell to where James lay crumpled on the ground, unmoving. Sirius assessed the situation in a split second, grabbing James' arm and throwing it over his shoulder as he hoisted him up. At the same time he sent up a smoke screen with his wand, though he was aware that it was much thinner than he had meant it to be. His energy was waning. He knew he had very little hope of Apparating just himself right now without splinching himself, let alone Apparating both him and James.

So he ran.

Adrenaline allowed him to shift James onto his back so he could run away from the battlefield still under the cover of his smoke screen, which was growing thinner by the moment and unable to block the curses still flying in their general direction, nor the vulgar language he could still clearly hear from his cousin. Dodging through the debris, his thoughts were on nothing but trying to get as far from the enemy as possible while his legs held out. The small village had practically been leveled in the battle, the residents having been evacuated long before. But Sirius managed to find a building that still had three of four walls, though no roof, and quickly ducked inside, hoping to find refuge. Surely once the Order survivors regrouped and realized who was still missing, they would send someone looking for them. And if not, Sirius just needed time until he was able to recover enough to Apparate them the hell out of there.

James groaned as Sirius settled him down into a far corner of the ruined building, shielded by parts of the caved in roof. He felt relief at the noise. It meant that he wasn't dead. At least not yet.

"Okay, James, take it easy, mate," Sirius panted as he crouched over his friend. "We're just going to rest here for a moment, and then we'll get some help, okay?"

"Hm," James hummed. But even as he did, his eyes were sliding closed.

"Hey, Prongs, keep your eyes open," Sirius said, firmly tapping James' cheek in an attempt to bring him back around. James' eyes opened for a moment but almost immediately they started sagging again. "James," said as loudly as he dared as he tapped James' cheek harder. "C'mon, James, eyes open, look at me. Let me see those eyes, mate."

A ghost of a smirk graced James' lips as his eyelids fluttered weakly.

"Are you coming on to me, Padfoot?" James rasped.

Sirius laughed, more out of nervous energy than actual humor. "Mate, you're an itch that needs to be scratched. Or at least one that requires some sort of ointment, honestly I'm not quite sure which." James coughed in what was probably an attempt at a laugh, and Sirius tried to ignore the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "Okay, let me take a look at you," he said, carefully tearing away James' sleeve where he had seen the final curse that had taken James down hit.

"You and your sweet talk," James quipped, even as he grimaced.

Any response died on Sirius' lips. James had caught the curse with the outside of his lower bicep, just above the elbow, and the site of the attack was now tinged a sickening purple color, too unnaturally bright to be simple bruising. Sirius' gaze snagged on the way that James' veins just above the site of the curse were turning black as the curse crept up his arm at a slow but steady pace. The curse was moving like a poison through his veins. Sirius could be at least a little thankful that it had hit James on his right side, granting them more time before the curse would reach his heart.

One thing was painfully obvious though: their time was limited. His best friend was dying.

"How bad is it?" James croaked.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair as he strained to smile. "Barely more than a scratch. And they call _me_ the dramatic one." He tried to laugh, but even he could hear how fake it sounded.

"That bad, huh?" James said flatly, his eyes dulling with the realization. Sirius sighed but couldn't bring himself to deny it. "You should go—" He was cut off by a painful choking noise. He took in a shuddering breath. "You should go get help."

"No way am I leaving you stranded here with Death Eaters still wandering around," Sirius said firmly, glancing around to make sure they were still isolated. When James didn't respond, he looked back at his friend to find his eyes sliding shut again as his head listed to one side. "C'mon Prongs, don't do this to me," he said, taking James' shoulders and shaking them. His barely contained panic was threatening to overwhelm him in the way that his voice shook. "If I let you die, Lily is going to kill me. You don't want that on your conscious do you?"

James grunted and then gasped in pain, squeezing his eyes shut as the color was rapidly draining from his face. Sirius looked down at the curse to find that the black veins were already overtaking his shoulder and seemed to be gaining speed as it spread into his chest, probably lapping at vital organs at this point. They were running out of time. Even if they were found before the curse reached his heart, the more time that passed the more James would run the risk of losing his arm.

There was no time to wait for rescue. There was no time for Sirius to wait for his magical energies to recover. He had to act now or risk losing his best friend.

"Okay, Prongs, new plan," he said, leaning down and hoisting James up into a sitting position. "Now don't get any ideas, I'm not looking for anything serious." His tone was strained in an attempt at humor as he wound his arms around James and pulled him close to his body, hoping the close quarters would make it easier to Apparate both of them. When he didn't respond, Sirius felt his resolve steeling, knowing it was now or never.

With one hand holding James' still body into his chest and the other hand holding his wand, Sirius closed his eyes and reached within himself, willing himself to scrape together any residual magical energy he might have lying buried deep within. He took one steadying breath. And then another. He built up the energy within himself, trying to gather enough to transport both of them, knowing that if he didn't have enough energy to get them all the way to the destination that it could mean the end of both of them.

He could have – and a logical part of his brain noted that he probably should have – just Apparated a couple short distances in order to get to a safe place where he could then summon help. But he had the strong feeling that he was only going to get one shot at this, so he focused his mind on the closest Order safe house. They would make it there or they wouldn't make it anywhere.

Giving himself no time to second guess the decision, Sirius clenched his jaw in determination as he lashed out with what little magical energy he could, turning on his knees and practically rolling into the pull of Apparation.

Sirius wondered vaguely if he blacked out, because he did not recall actually making the trip. The next thing he knew, he was hitting a hard floor as noise erupted around him.

"James! Sirius!"

"Are they alive?"

"Careful, don't trample them!"

"How did they get here?"

Someone was pulling James away from him but Sirius didn't have it in him to protest. Colors and faces swirled around him but he couldn't seem to focus on any of it. His breath was coming in short, choked gasps and no matter how much air he sucked in, it didn't seem to be enough. His whole body had gone numb at some point, adding to his disorientation.

"Sirius? Sirius, can you hear me?" Sirius was only vaguely aware of Remus' voice. There was a pause. "His pulse is weak and slowing. Somebody help me get him to a bed."

The floor seemed to fall away from him, taking the rest of the world with it as darkness consumed him and he knew no more.

* * *

"Shouldn't he have woken up by now?"

"He was completely drained when he got here, so much so that his entire body was going into shock. He'll need time to rest and recover from that."

Voices were slowly floating to him through the darkness. It took Sirius a moment to recognize that it was Lily and Remus speaking, but the implication of their words were beyond his flimsy grasp on the physical world. The protective darkness around him was thinning, leaving him very aware of a pounding headache that was radiating out from the back of his head, seeming to send jolts of pain down his spine. He groaned, the noise clawing its way up his dry throat.

There was a weary sigh. "Of course, he's never been one to take much to resting," Remus mumbled with exasperation.

Even as Sirius was still making his way toward full consciousness, he quirked the corner of his mouth upward. "Where's the fun in that?" he murmured, his words coming out thick and uneven.

"I want you to know that if you weren't recovering from being gravely injured, I would hit you," Remus informed him mildly.

"Noted." Sirius coughed a laugh as he slowly blinked his eyes open. An unfamiliar room swam into focus. He looked around, confused. "Where are we?"

"A new safehouse," Remus told him, drawing Sirius' attention to where he was sitting at his bedside. "Dumbledore thought that it would be prudent to hide you and James better after this last ambush." He paused, looking like he was debating whether or not to continue. After a moment he went on a bit reluctantly. "I think he's concerned about how the Death Eaters seemed so prepared for you. Almost as if they knew you were coming."

It felt as if an ice cold stone dropped into the pit of Sirius' stomach at the implication of that statement. But he quickly pushed the feeling aside as his eyes darted around the small room, calculating. Remus sat in a chair at his bedside and Lily was hovering behind him. That left a very conspicuous absence.

"James?" Sirius said, looking at Remus with question in his eyes as his muscles tensed. "Where's James? Is he okay?"

Remus gave him a comforting smile that immediately took the edge off of Sirius' panic. "Surprisingly, he's more okay than you are right now. Moody had been victim to that same curse last week and so he was quickly able to reverse it before it could cause any permanent damage. His arm will be sore for a while, but he's going to be fine. He's just in the next room resting. He hasn't left your side in twenty-four hours and was looking a bit ragged."

Relief swept over Sirius in a cool wave at this news. James was okay. Anything else hardly seemed to matter as he sunk back into the pillow.

"How are you feeling?" Lily asked, coming up behind Remus so that her eyes could search him critically. "You gave us quite a scare."

"Like I've got the hangover from hell," Sirius groaned as he blinked against the bright lights in the room.

Remus smirked as he nodded. "That seems like a reasonable comparison."

"James will want to know you're alright," Lily said with a relieved smile that betrayed how worried she had been as well. She started heading toward the door, but then hesitated before going through it. She turned back to look at him. "Sirius… thank you for bringing my husband back to me. He wouldn't have made it without what you did. I will never be able to repay that debt." And before Sirius could respond, to point out that James wouldn't have been in that position in the first place if it weren't for him, she had disappeared from the room.

Remus glanced down at his timepiece as he shifted uncomfortably. "I've got a meeting with Dumbledore," he said reluctantly, glancing over at Sirius unsurely. "You weren't supposed to wake up this soon. I'm sure I could postpone it though."

"Go," Sirius said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I can manage lying about just fine without you."

Remus looked at him skeptically. "You will not get out of this bed, right? Your body went through a terrible ordeal and you really need to rest."

Sirius snorted. "Don't fret, Moony. I have exactly zero desire to get up right now. I promise you, I'll save my tap dancing practice until later."

Remus laughed lightly at that as he stood up. "It's good to have you back, Padfoot." Then he turned and left.

Sirius sighed lightly as he was left alone in the room. His entire body ached, but the worst of it was his head. He closed his eyes against the bright light in the room, but he was feeling too restless to sleep. He wasn't quite sure how much time had passed, but soon he heard footsteps coming into the room. He opened his eyes to see James – looking worn, with his arm contained in a sling, but seeming otherwise unharmed – leaning in the doorway, looking at him with an uncharacteristic frown on this face.

"I heard you were awake," James said slowly. There was something strange in his tone, but Sirius couldn't quite place it.

"You heard correctly," Sirius said, too tired to come up with something more clever to say to James' observation of the obvious.

"You should know, I'm very cross with you, Padfoot," James said matter-of-factly as he crossed the room and then took Remus' recently vacated seat, cradling his injured arm carefully against himself.

"And why's that?" Sirius asked mildly, squeezing his eyes shut to give them a break from the annoyingly bright light.

"That was an incredibly thick stunt that you pulled," James said, a sharp edge to his tone. "You do realize you almost killed yourself, don't you? Your magical energies were so low that your body was shutting down by the time you made it here. Your heart actually stopped and another few minutes and Remus might not have been able to bring you back."

"Perhaps," Sirius said, his eyes snapping back open so that he could glare up at his best friend. "But you realize that you almost got yourself killed first with _your_ incredibly thick stunt."

James looked truly taken aback by this accusation. "What are you talking about?"

"My dear cousin Bellatrix sent that curse at me and you jumped in front of it," Sirius pointed out. His eyes wandered to James' arm that was contained in the sling. "That curse was meant for me, not for you."

"I managed to catch the curse in the arm," James said stubbornly. "If I hadn't blocked it, you would have caught it in the chest and would have been dead in minutes if you lasted that long."

"So you save my life by putting your own in danger and in return I save yours by putting mine in danger," Sirius said calmly. "Sounds to me like we're even."

James opened his mouth to retort, but nothing came out. Sirius watched with amusement as James was forced to close his mouth again, having nothing to counter the logic.

"We both have the same fatal flaw," Sirius continued after a minute of silence. "We would both die for one another. I can't help that any more than you can. It's likely that someday that will be the undoing of one of us. But today, our fatal flaws cancelled each other out and managed to keep us both alive. Can't really say that's a bad thing, right?"

"You're right," James admitted softly. He was quiet for several minutes, looking thoughtful before he spoke again. "Do you remember all the stories from when we were little?" he said quietly. Sirius quirked an eyebrow, unsure where James was going with this. "All those bedtime stories read to kids where the good guys always win against the bad guys."

Sirius smirked. "Clearly as children we were read very different bedtime stories, Prongs. Believe it or not, Walburga was not big on stories like Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump." He laughed at just the thought of his mother saying such ridiculous words like 'Babbity Rabbity.'

James rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean." He paused. "When we joined the Order, I always just figured that eventually we'd win. We are the good guys after all. Right?" He sighed heavily as he rubbed his forehead with his good hand. "Now… I'm not so sure. More and more it feels like we're losing this war. And it feels like it's only a matter of time before we start losing each other."

"Yeah," Sirius said flatly. "I know what you mean."

So far, the former Marauders of Hogwarts had been lucky. Relatively speaking, anyway. They had lost people that they had known to this war, but to this point they had held on to those they cared most about. Their tight knit group was still intact, but with death tolls rising every day and all of them out of the front lines of this war, they were forced to ask themselves how much longer it would be until they were forced to attend the funeral of one of their closest friends.

It was like a game of Russian roulette played among those they loved most in this world. The most frightening thought of all was that it wasn't a question of 'if'… it was a question of 'when'.

One of these days their luck was going to run out. They would never be ready for that day. But for now, James sat quietly in Sirius' company, both knowing exactly what they were willing to risk for one another.

* * *

 **The Fairy Tales Challenge Prompts:**

 _ **Fairy Tale (10 pts) -**_ Sleeping Beauty - Write about a dream world. Alternatively, write about a deadly curse that can be broken.

 _ **Dialogue: (5 pts each)**_ \- "You are an itch that needs to be scratched."

 **Total Points: 15**


End file.
